Daylight *******

My daughter purchased a cellphone for me from PEP in May of 2025. Everything was fine with the phone and I purchased a R150 screen protector.

In August, I started noticing that when I made or received phone calls or Whatsapp calls, I could not hear the person on the other end unless I put it on speakerphone. I tried a couple of fixes like leaving the phone off for a while and then switching it back on but it did not help at all. I checked Settings and reset the phone, no help. Also, the ON/OFF button had to be pressed over and over before the phone would switch on or off.

I called PEP stores Head Office and they told me to call their Customer Care line. I called them and found out if I would be able to return the phone and was told that I could and that it would take 35 days to be repaired and returned to me. I asked how I am supposed to go on without a cellphone and was told that I would have to wait as replacing the faulty phone would be a loss to the company.

I returned the phone to my local PEP, I asked the lady about the screen protector that I purchased for the screen and she said that if they replace the phone, my R150 screen protector would just be a loss. No replacement, no refund.

What I find funny is how the Customer Care Agent could say that replacing a phone is a loss to the company, what about the loss I could incur? A company that makes billions every year cannot replace a faulty phone or refund a screen protector on that faulty phone?

Your customers make your business money but you don't care about those customers. I will never purchase a cellphone from PEP Stores ever again.

If the phone gets replaced, I expect to be refunded for my screen protector. Next move will be reporting PEP to Consumer Protection.